They bickered, and Carlos barreled toward me and leapt at my legs, so I picked him up and held him in my lap. Petting the little terror calmed my nerves.
I was kicking myself. I shouldn’t have left Hannah alone. I’d hesitated, which meant my instinctshad been warning me that it was a bad idea. I just wasn’t accustomed to listening to them. In point of fact, I’d spent much of my life actively ignoring them.
“Ryder?”
I blinked up at them. God, they looked like twins. Erin stood there with hands on hips, while Hannah’s arms were crossed. I gulped. “Huh?”
“Can I still stay here tonight? I don’t want to go anywhere with her.”
My heart raced. I met Hannah’s ocean-blue eyes, but I could still feel Erin’s boring into me from where she stood. I wanted to keep arguing with Erin, but I needed to protect my daughter first. As much as it pained me to do so, that meant siding against her. Her safety was more important than her desires.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea. You should go home, where you’ll be safe.”
“What? That’s not fair!”
Hannah and Erin began bickering again, and I swallowed against the tightness in my throat. I felt like I’d betrayed her. “Hannah, please? I don’t want to fight.”
“Go pack your things,” Erin said, pointing toward Hannah’s room.
Hannah looked at me, pleading with her eyes, and as much as I wanted to look anywhere else, I held my ground.Think of her safety. Think of her safety. My heart cracked a little, but finally she turned and stormed off in the direction of her room. Carlos wiggled in my arms until I released him and he claimed Hannah’s blanket for himself.
“Can I speak with you?” Erin whispered. “Alone?”
“Let me walk you out while she’s packing.”
We walked in silence, and Erin waited until we were a respectable distance from the front door before she rounded on me. “Thank you. But if you think siding with me lets you off the hook for one minute, you’re in for a rude awakening, Ryder Clark. What if something had happened to h?—”
“Erin, please. I feel guilty enough. You’re not helping bycontinuing to berate me. I’m not a kid. We’re not seventeen anymore. Do you really think I would have left Hannah alone if I’d thought she’d be in danger?”
Erin looked off into the darkness of the night, quiet for a moment. “None of this crazy stuff started happening until you got here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Break-ins, strangers following my teenage daughter…”
I shook my head. “I’ve worked in bars for as long as I can remember. This kind of stuff comes with the territory. But,” I held up a finger when her mouth popped open, “I also learned how to handle it. You spent time in New York, you know the charmed life of this little town isn’t going to prepare Hannah for the outside world. I’m not suggesting we put her in danger—I would never, ever suggest that—but when things like this happen, all we can do is teach her how to deal with them for herself. She’s smart enough to avoid most trouble, but if we shelter her, she’ll never survive the first trouble that comes her way.”
Her glare said she wasn’t listening. “Did they arrest him?”
“I don’t think so.” And that made me uneasy.
She nodded, then took a deep breath. “I don’t want Hannah over here until they do.”
My heart fell into my stomach. “What are you saying?”
She opened the driver’s door of her vehicle. “Honestly, Ryder, I’m not sure it was a good idea for you to move out here. The drama I can handle, but not the danger.”
Hannah opened the front door, duffel in her arms and backpack slung over her shoulder. She probably didn’t intend for me to see, but as she turned to close the door behind her, she brushed tears from her cheeks. She stomped around Erin to throw her things in the back of the SUV, then hesitated. I knew she was pissed at me, but shestill wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed—hard.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered into her hair. The anger I could handle, but her hug nearly unmade me. I felt a burn in the back of my eyes, made all the worse when I didn’t get a response out of her. She released her grip on me and went around to the passenger’s side without looking back.
“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Erin said, before getting in herself and driving off.
I cleared the lump from my throat and turned around, walking back to the door. I didn’t look back.
I was too anxious to sleep. I kept the TV on, but wasn’t paying attention to it. I laid across the couch, keeping my eyes on the front door. Carlos curled up on my belly, his light weight almost enough to comfort me to sleep—almost. My eyes threatened to shut, but I couldn’t let them, not yet. I forced them open and fumbled for my phone on the table, texting the only other person I wanted in that moment.
Can you come over?
